Today in an exam centre in Mississauga Ontario I completed and passed my 4-hour exam to become a PMP.

It’s been a long road, but mostly because I took my time. I first want to give my thanks to the people and employers that supported me through the process: Thanks University of Toronto and Brock University!

Here’s the story, working backwards

Today I wrote the exam at a Pearson VUE exam centre.

The wait time between submission and confirmation was less than 3 seconds, but felt like 10 seconds or more because I really had to pee! That was one of a few things that didn’t quite go to plan (though, that was an identified risk, I just could only come up with a mitigation contingency plan, not avoidance). I also found myself pressed for time throughout, which was not the case when I practiced. I had hoped to review questions I had flagged, but ultimately did not have time, though I did more on from those questions thinking I gave my best answer.

It was the culmination of a lot work (see below) but rather anti-climatic as I got the news in the exam room, while responsibly being quite for other exam writers… then I got my print out…signed out and unlocked my stuff… peed… and headed to my car and texted the good news and my thanks.

Interesting, I was expecting to be given paper to make notes with, but that’s not how it worked at this location. Instead, they gave me a laminated notepad and a blue fine-tip Sharpie to make notes with. My hands are now marked in blue as if with indelible ink after I voted in a developing-world election.

Qualifying to Write

I have my 4-year degree: Honours in Communications Policy.

I’ve got my experience hours – actually, that was subject to an audit when I applied. They say it’s random, but I think when Ieft a pre-populated zero in a few of the forms for hours spent I triggered the audit because all the proportions were way off. I noticed it in the confirmation, was allowed to re-submit, but still subject to an audit. Thanks to those that helped with that.

There’s also the requirement for 35 hours of instruction. I got mine through an online course at the University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies, it also happened to be good follow-up quality control on the Toolbox Renewal/Quercus project. I did well in the course and on the progress and final exams, but they were open-book and I attribute my success to my open-book exam strategy more than my internalization of the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBoK) etc.

My Study Plan

I appreciated many of the “I Passed” descriptions on reddit, but many of those descriptions are of 2~3 month experience, it’s a proven model.

As I’m currently a part-time Masters of Education grad student, in this last year I’ve transitioned jobs, and my wife and I have a pair of active kids; my study plan needed to fit around all of those activities.

Here’s My slow-burn Study Plan

More instruction
I completed Linked Learning’s Cert Prep: Project Management Professional (PMP).
I did this over some evenings, lunch hours and flights. The handouts, quizzes and practice exam were great. I’d recommend the course, especially because many employers, local library systems, and all Ontario publicly-funded post-secondary institutions currently offer free access to LinkedIn Learning (Credit to Lynda.com/LinkedIn Learning’s salespeople!).

Iterate
I kept doing Pocket Prep quizzes. Grew my own notes, and adapted some of Edward Chung’s notes (thanks!). I practiced writing out formula’s and the 49 PMBoK Processes, and I also built a 446 question quiz in Sakai matching all of the PMBoK’s terms to their definitions and practiced that.

And that’s how I passed and became a PMP

I recommend project management as a discipline to anyone else who might have graduated with a not-so business-ie degree. Project management is a transferable framework for management itself and is also contained within a temporary endeavour. If you’re interested in becoming a PMP, go for it! There’s also the CAPM credential, or other project management courses and certificates offer this.

I signed an agreement that I wouldn’t reveal the content of questions I answered, and I just checked and term “project kick-off meeting” occurs about two more times across the entire PMBoK than in my exam.